Summary

The Cambridge-
Carnegie-Toronto-CalTech
Las Campanas Infra-Red survey(LCIR) survey is
an ambitious IR driven survey program that aims to tackle
several major outstanding problems in the understanding of
the evolution of massive galaxies and the growth of
large-scale structure in the crucial
redshift range 1 to 2.

The project is made possible by the
development in Cambridge of CIRSI a panoramic
wide field IR camera. The Cambridge Infra Red Survey Instrument(CIRSI)
is based on a moisaic of
4 Rockwell 1024x1024 HyCdTe arrays
and is the largest near IR camera in existence. In collaboration
with the staff of Carnegie Observatoraties, CIRSI is being used to
carry out a large wide field IR survey in the J, H and K wavebands. This
data is being combined with optical UBVRIZ CCD data obtained at
CTIO, Palomar and the WHT.

The survey is designed to detect early type galaxies 1 magnitude fainter than
L* out to redshifts of 2. The near IR magnitude limits(5sigma) are:

Ks = 21.1, J = 22.6

The survey consists of 5 primary survey regions spread out
in RA and a number of smaller specially selected regions. The
total area of the survey is:

1 square degree

Optical data is also being obtained in the following wavebands:

U, B, V, R, I, Z

The major
difference between this multi-band survey and various others underway is the
unique combination of large area and the faint limiting IR magnitude.
The IR band is crucial to the unbiased and efficient selection of
z>1 galaxies and crucially we can use
the K luminosity as a measure of the integrated
stellar mass. The CIRSI survey fills a prominent gap between other wide field
but shallow IR surveys (e.g. we go 1.5 magnitudes deeper than the NOAO
Deep Wide Survey) and deep surveys such as the HDF over very narrow fields.

The K
magnitude limitand the square degree area of
the survey were chosen to allow the detection of $\sim 3000$ evolved galaxies
in the range 1 < z < 2 (Cowie et al 1994, Elston et al 1997) and obtain a
(5sigma) measurement of their correlation function on Mpc scales.

Survey Goals

The survey has primarily been designed to deliver large samples of galaxies
in the hitherto uncharted redshift range $1 < z < 2$.

Specific goals include:

to use photometric redshift techniques
to identify and classify galaxies at z > 1

measuring the space density, luminosity function, and energy
distributions of z>1 galaxies of various classes,

measuring the evolution
of clustering via the growth of the two-point correlation
function,

measuring the impact of reddening on galaxy spectral
energy distributions and the apparent rate of star formation,

comparison with theoretical models and semi-analytic simulations (which
incorporate the observational selection effects of the survey) to obtain
bounds on cosmological constants such as Lambda, Omega, and H0} and
the power-spectrum of fluctuations.

to measure the spatial correlation function of red galaxies in
two distinct redshift bins between 1 < z < 2 and compare
these with measurements at lower redshifts.

to determine the luminosity function of old red galaxies
at z ~1.5.

to assemble a sample of several hundred
Extremely Red Objects and derive their spectral energy and
magnitude distributions.

to dentify several hundred
microJy radio sources and derive their optical and near-IR
luminosity functions, spatial clustering and evolution.

defining a large sample of candidate high redshift near-IR selected
galaxies for follow-up spectroscopy with the new Gemini 8m and
Magellan 6.5m telescopes, and

to define large
samples of candidate high redshift near-IR selected galaxies
for follow-up spectroscopy with the Gemini 8m and the two
Magellan 6.5m telescopes.

Observing Plan

Observations are being carried out in Spring 99, Fall 99, Spring 2000
and Fall 2000